Classic Television - Weekdays

Memory Game

Original channel

NBC

Original run

February 15 – July 30, 1971

Presented by

Joe Garagiola

Narrated by

Johnny Olson

Memory Game (sometimes referred to as Joe Garagiola's Memory Game) was a short-lived American television game show that aired on NBC. The series – hosted by former baseball star and then-current Today personality Joe Garagiola – ran from February 15 to July 30, 1971.

The show's creator and packager was Merv Griffin, and its announcer was Johnny Olson, a legendary game-show announcer more synonymous with Goodson-Todman Productions, who would launch CBS' The New Price is Right the following year. 

Five contestants, one of them a returning champion (or designate), competed and were spotted $50 at the start of the game. Before each round, they were each given a booklet containing the questions and answers to be used in that round. The time they had to study the material varied per round. Once the study time period elapsed, the show's assistants collected the booklets, and Garagiola began randomly asking questions from the booklet. The champion – who was seated in the number 1 position – could elect to answer or call out an opponent's number (2 through 5). That player could answer or call any of his/her opponents to answer, and so on until a time's up buzzer sounded. At that time, the player at that moment had to answer. A correct answer was worth $5, a wrong answer lost that amount. Play continued in similar fashion until all the questions were exhausted. Subsequent rounds were played with increased stakes ($10 in Round 2, $20 in Round 3 and all future rounds). 

Memory Game was one of eight shows NBC attempted to program in the 1:30 PM (12:30 Central) time slot between 1968 and 1975; like most of the others, CBS' As the World Turns and ABC's Let's Make a Deal (formerly seen on NBC) soundly defeated it in the ratings.

Three weeks after this show's cancellation, NBC moved Garagiola to another daytime game, Sale of the Century, which he hosted for the rest of its original run. Three on a Match, hosted by Bill Cullen, replaced Memory Game on the NBC schedule.